How to plan a trip to London

If you are planning a trip to London,

you’ll probably find there’s so much to do and see in London, that planning the perfect trip seems impossible if you want to see a bit of everything.

For that reason, we’re going to easily explain how to plan the perfect trip to London, just by following a few easy steps to guarantee that you´ll make the most of your time in this beautiful city. It’s basically a cheat sheet to make sure that you leave with the feeling of having experienced London like a Londoner.
When planning a trip to London, we would suggest that you make sure each one of these things makes it to your list:

1. Itineraries to stroll through London’s most famous streets and squares

If you are planning your first trip to London, look at our London itineraries. London is a great city for walking and having a walking route already planned is the best way to see London´s iconic landmarks. Some of the key places in London that you shouldn’t miss when visiting for the first time are Oxford Street, Regent Street, Leicester Square or Carnaby Street for example. Make sure you also get slightly lost in London’s famous Soho and explore Chinatown.

Take your time to wander round Covent Garden, where you’ll also find many cafes and restaurants, so take a bite and relax watching the world go by in this beautiful part of London. From Covent Garden you can easily walk to Trafalgar Square and then it´s just a 10-minute stroll from here to the Thames, where you´ll get to see Big Ben and the London Eye.

A walk along South Bank is also a must. This is where you get to take in the beautiful views that London has to offer, and appreciate it’s wonderful skyline. Walking along the South Bank you can easily get to St Paul´s Cathedral, Borough Market, and the Tower of London.

2. Visit at least one of London’s wonderful parks

London’s green spaces are fantastic, and you should consider exploring at least Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens which are attached to one another and located in central London. We’d suggest that you’d need a good 2 or 3 hours to walk around there but it is totally worth it. Walk around Serpentine Lake and enjoy the views, look for Peter Pan’s Statue and visit the Diana Memorial Park if you’re travelling to London with kids.

St James’ Park is right next to Buckingham Palace, and we highly recommend walking through it if you have the chance. You might get a glimpse of the pelicans! It’s only small but incredibly beautiful. London has many other green spaces that we’d recommend visiting, such as Regent’s Park, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park or Hampstead Heath.

3. Visit one of London’s Street markets

Visiting one of London’s world-famous markets will probably be one of the highlights of your trip to London. London’s markets offer everything from street-food to flowers to antiques, but it’s not only the shopping opportunities that you will find, but the whole experience and feeling that you’ll get when walking round one. The hardest decision you’ll have to make is which one to go to. In our opinion, these are the top three unmissable markets in London: Portobello Road, Camden Market and Borough Market.

Portobello Road in Notting Hill is one of London’s most famous markets. Portobello Road market is open on Saturday mornings, so if you are planning a trip to London during a weekend, then this is a must. The earlier you get there, the less crowds of people there will be. Find out more: Notting Hill Guide.

Camden Market is open every day of the week, and you can expect to see the unexpected here. Camden Market is unique in every way, and literally has it all. There are large open spaces and tables to enjoy the best street food you can imagine, stalls and shops bursting with antiques, clothes, music, shoes…

Borough Market is located next to London Bridge, and there is a full market here from Monday to Sunday. We always recommend Borough Market to friends when they visit London and it never disappoints them. It truly is one of our favourite places in London.

Other markets in London worth a visit are Columbia Road Flower Market, Brick Lane and Spitalfields Market, Petticoat Lane Market, Maltby Street and Brixton Market..

4. Visit one of London’s most famous museums

Most of the museums in London are not only fascinating, but they’re also FREE!! You could easily spend days and days visiting all the different museums in London, so you will undoubtedly have to choose which ones you want to see.

If you like the idea of visiting a museum housed in one of the most beautiful buildings, and the idea of walking beside dinosaur skeletons doesn’t scare you, then the Natural History Museum is a must. If you’re planning a trip to London with kids, it’s also one of our first choices, as they can easily spend hours looking at the different exhibitions.

The Science Museum is located right next to the Natural History Museum, and it’s also one not to miss if you have kids. This museum is highly interactive with special effects that the kids will love, and the best thing is, that they will learn loads here as they discover how the world works.
Other options include delving into the hidden secrets of the British Museum, the National Gallery, or the Tate Modern, or travelling back in time visiting the London Transport Museum.

5. Decide which London Attractions you can’t miss…

and which ones you can live without seeing
This is probably one of the most difficult things to have to decide on. London’s long list of attractions will make this step difficult, but there are a few that are compulsory if you’re visiting London for the first time. The London Eye, visiting Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London and St Paul´s Cathedral are all a must!

6. Tuck into some Great British Food in one of London’s Historical Pubs

Try a traditional Sunday Roast or the famous British Fish and Chips in one of London’s best pubs. Another possibility that you may not want to miss is experiencing Afternoon Tea.

Option 4: 7 Day Child Travelcard

To buy a 7-day child travelcard in London there are 3 options: 1 – By adding a weekly travelcard into a Zip Oyster photocard. This is undoubtedly the most complicated option, as you need to request a Zip Card Oyster photocard first and then add the 7-day travelcard onto it. 2 – Buy a 7-day child travelcard online. This is probably the easiest way of getting one, as you do not need a Zip Oyster photocard and they will send it to your home address before you travel. 3 – Buy a 7-day child travelcard at a national railway ticket office (not an underground station).

People 16 to 18 years old

People aged 16 to 18 can also apply for a 16 – 18 Zip Oyster photocard, which will apply half adult rates on any form of public transport in London. Travelcards at a reduced price can also be added onto Zip Oyster photocards.
For more information about travelling in London with kids visit: Transport for London.

Travelling in London with kids: Travelling to Central London from the airport
Stansted, Luton and Gatwick airports are all located outside London’s Travel Zones, so fares when travelling with kids to and from these airports are different to fares when travelling in London with kids, so under 11-year old children will need a ticket.

An Oyster card is valid for travel into Central London from Gatwick Airport, but children under 11 will also need a train ticket to get to central London from Gatwick Airport, even if they are accompanied by an adult.

Heathrow and London City Airports are both inside London Travel Zones, so fares are as explained above. Children under 11 travel free and Children under 16 can travel with an Oyster card with young visitor discount.

Travelling in London with a buggy

If you are planning a trip with a baby or toddler, it may be that you wish to bring your buggy or stroller to London, especially if you’re planning on spending the whole day walking around London.

Travelling in London with a buggy can be quite easy if you know which route is best, or it can be a complete nightmare if you have to go up or down 300 steps when there are no lifts.

Don’t stress, we’re going to explain how to travel on London´s public transport with a buggy.

Travelling on London´s buses with a buggy

Public buses in London have a dedicated wheelchair and buggy space as well as easy street-level access. Travelling by bus with a buggy normally is the easiest option to get around London. You can enter the bus via the back door, which makes it a bit easier too. Up to two pushchairs are allowed in the dedicated buggy space on a bus but do bear in mind that during busy periods you may be asked to wait for the next bus or collapse your pushchair.

Travelling on the London Underground with a buggy

The trick to travelling in London with kids using a pushchair is to check London´s accessible underground map in advance and choose your route carefully. Being able to plan your route choosing accessible stations makes life much easier, and it may just mean that you need to get off at the next stop and walk 5 minutes, rather than having to take a buggy and a baby up 100 steps.

Unfortunately, not all underground stations in London are accessible. Most underground stations in London will have escalators, and many stations will also have some stairs at some point before reaching the platform. Many other stations have lifts to some of the platforms, and some stations are completely accessible, with lifts from the ticket office to the platform.

If you need help going up or down the stairs and you ask a member of staff for help, for health and safety reasons they will ask you to carry the baby and they will take the buggy for you.

London Underground Accessibility Maps

On the London Underground map, you will see that accessible underground stations are marked with the symbol of a wheelchair, in either a blue circle or a white circle.

• Blue circle: the underground station is fully accessible, which means that it is possible to go from street-level onto the underground carriage without any steps at all. In these cases, the platform will have an area that is slightly elevated to avoid any steps when getting onto the train.

• White circle: this means that there are no steps from street-level to platform, but there is some unevenness when getting onto the train. This is important for someone using a wheelchair, but it normally isn´t a problem when taking a buggy onto the train.

In addition to this map, there’s a Step Free Tube Map that is a lot more detailed and the one we’d recommend you check when travelling on the London Underground with a buggy. This map highlights the degree of accessibility at each station in detail and it also explains how accessible it is to change between underground lines at different stations.

7. Go on a river cruise and admire London’s skyline

If it’s your first trip to London and you are visiting with kids, we’d highly recommend going on a river cruise on the Thames.
There are sightseeing river cruises along the Thames, with live or recorded commentary.

8. Choose the right hotel in the right place

London is a big city and choosing a hotel can be a difficult task! First, we need to admit that hotels in London can be a bit expensive and sometimes people will choose a cheaper hotel far from central London if they find it to be cheaper, but the reality is that the money you will be saving on the hotel will most likely be spent on travel fares and journey time.

For this reason, it´s particularly important that you know exactly where your chosen hotel is and how long it will take you to get to central London. You may be able to walk to some of London´s attractions or you may need to get the tube or the bus…. but what you don´t want is to find out that you need to get on a train for an hour to reach central London and that each journey will cost you £10.

For this reason, there are a few things we think you would like to know:
London Travel Zones: Familiarise yourself with London’s Travel Zones and the Underground Map before you choose your hotel.

Recommended hotels: Have a look at different Hotel comparison sites as this will give you an idea of different locations and example hotels to consider.

9. Choosing transport tickets

Once you know what you’ve chosen and what travel zone it’s in, you will be able to choose a travel card suited to your needs. There are two transport cards and which one you need will depend on the number of days you’ll be in London, the travel zone in which your hotel is located, and the approximate number of times you think you will be using public transport.

Welcome to our Blog!